and our next post is...

The United States of America.

Actually we got assigned to Panama, and since I can't handle two more years of not being able to drink the water, two more years of living somewhere that needs the Peace Corps, two more years of cockroaches and being afraid to run by myself, that means we will be moving back to the USA.  Seriously.

I will leave it that I am exceptionally disappointed.  I really thought after living in an exceptionally difficult and dangerous third-world country for the last two years we would have earned our way past that.  Apparently it doesn't work that way.

I will write more when I'm better able to mince words.  In the meantime, feel free to shoot me an email and I'll tell you how I really feel.

we got our next assignment!

But neither one of us has looked yet - I made Joey promise to wait until he got home from work so we could find out together.

There's a bottle of champagne in the freezer just in case - one way or another!

Only 30 more minutes...

i'll catch up eventually

Joey and I just got back yesterday from a two week trip to Tanzania with his cousin and her husband.  Only a few weeks before that, we were lucky enough to spend 11 days in Italy with my family.  This should equate to something like 25 blog posts if I were to do each day of our travels justice, but that might take a while.  Oh, and I still have never blogged about my amazingly brave sister's visit to Nigeria.  Last May.  So I'm a little behind...

Right now, though, I'm squinting to see the computer screen from beside the pool.  I got a pretty good tan in Zanzibar and I'm trying to keep it up.  We'll see.

However, lest anyone think Joey and I are living too much a charmed life, I direct them to my sister, my last post, or to the owner of the desk next to mine, who discovered rat shit all over her workspace this morning (that creature was last spotted Thursday in the bathroom.  Remind me to never drink or eat before work again.  It's probably not healthy to hold it for five hours, but it's probably healthier than being bitten by a rat.  Or cobra.).  Maybe my office should put up a sign like this one erected outside the Abuja airport.

work hazards

I got an unexpected email at work a few weeks ago:

Subject: Security Alert ****Cobra



Hello 


Please it was reported this morning that a cobra was located at the pent house of this building.  I am working with the Post Occupational Safety and Health Officer on the best way to resolve this.


Please keep all windows locked; please ensure as you enter the office that the main entry door is locked and nothing is following you behind!


Please be vigilant until this serpent is captured or killed.


Regards


Isn't that fabulous?  The best part: we never got a follow-up.  For all I know, the serpent is still at large.  Lovely.

all roads lead to rome

Ah, Roma.

But first we had to get there.  Luggage in tow, we disembarked the cruise ship, ready to explore my favorite city in the world.  The horrors of hauling our massive suitcases on and off trains still fresh in my mind, and two additional (and full) pieces of luggage in tow, I was determined to take a taxi into the city, even if my husband considered it a giant waste of 100 euro.  Perhaps it was sheer luck or perhaps Joey deliberately found the most repulsive taxi on the planet, but suddenly our luggage was loaded into a dirty, rusty, at least twenty-five year-old Fiat and Jabba the Hutt was behind the wheel.

This massive, wheezing blob of a man grunted and lit a cigarette.  I'm not sure what came over me, but I was already disgusted and unwilling to smell like an ashtray for the rest of the day, so I totally fibbed and said "Signore" and patted my belly as if I was pregnant.  He threw that cigarette out so fast I almost felt bad about my little white lie, but I figured it prevented him from his imminent heart attack at least for the rest of our drive.

Soon we were in Trastevere, where we checked into our hotel.  We spent the next three days exploring the parts of the city we hadn't seen the first time, including Trastevere and the Vatican, as well as re-visiting some of our favorites, including the Roman Forum and Trevi Fountain.  The last night of R&R we went back to the Cafe de Paris on Via Veneto, one of the first restaurants where we'd celebrated our honeymoon.  The pianist was just as talented and the meal just as romantic; it was a fitting end to an incredible journey with my best friend.

Click here for all of my Roman pictures.

the amalfi coast

Our cruise ship docked next in Salerno, Italy.  Initially we'd planned to take a ferry to Capri, but when we learned the ferry would take an hour and a half each way, my propensity to sea-sickness overruled our initial plans in favor of a closer destination: Amalfi.

Amalfi Cathedral

One cappuccino and one espresso later, we toured the grand cathedral, its cloister and chapel.   We drifted through the scenic sea-side town, stopping first for a Caprese salad and later for fresh lemon cream cake that tasted just like our wedding cake.

As we still had plenty of time before we had to meet the boat, we decided to take another ferry a little farther, to the even lovelier Positano.  We continued our gustation tour of the Amalfi Coast with some incredible pizza and lemon granita; in the meantime I found an incredible pair of handmade, hot-pink, Italian leather loafers.

In Positano

The ferry back to Salerno was completely miserable.  Dark clouds had rolled in, bringing with them bumpy waves on which we were stuffed like sardines.  I spent the entire hour with my head between my legs, praying I didn't have to take my pretty new shoes out of the yellow shopping bag to vomit.  But I made it to Salerno with all the food I'd eaten still gurgling in my belly.  We embarked on the cruise ship for the last time, headed to Rome for the final leg of our R&R.

As always, click here for the rest of my pictures from the Amalfi Coast.

mykonos

After Kusadasi, we returned to the Greek Isles for a stop in Mykonos.  I really wanted to go to the island of Delos to see the Temple of Apollo; Joey graciously acquiesced even though all he wanted to do was lay on the beach.

We bought round-trip tickets for the ferry through the deep sapphire waters to the island.  Once on Delos, we waited in line to buy a ticket to enter the archaeological site, only to discover that credit cards were not accepted and the only cash we had was not enough to buy tickets.  Luckily, the elderly man operating the ticket booth was kind enough to accept our eight euros as payment enough.  His wasn't the only instance of kindness that day; after an hour under the hot sun on the remote island, we ducked into the cafe, hoping it would accept credit cards and we could buy a drink.  The cafe didn't take cards either, but the young man behind the cash register handed us a free glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice anyway.  I have to admit, I didn't find the "piles of rocks," as Joey calls them, nearly as impressive as the islanders' generosity.

Hungry and hot, we boarded the ferry back to Mykonos for lunch.  We spent the rest of the day zigzagging through the white-washed town, and Joey even managed to find time for a swim.

Click here for all of my pictures from Mykonos